


Conditions Were Rigid

by CschMan20



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action, Angst, Drama, Existentialism, F/M, Guilt, Internal Conflict, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:48:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24193807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CschMan20/pseuds/CschMan20
Summary: An adult Naruto misses his girlfriend as he goes on a mission while also fighting his own internal issues.
Relationships: Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Conditions Were Rigid

Conditions Were Rigid

A solid thud reverberated through the man's body up into Naruto's arms as he slammed him to the ground, his hold of choice being one hand on the man's back and the other firmly grasping his bony arm to be used as a lever: a gauge of how useful the conversation was going to be. He had wanted the matter to be peaceful, but the man's companion had decided to attempt a sucker punch (said companion was sprawled unconscious against a cracked tree trunk a few feet away) and it couldn't be helped.

"You're gonna break my arm!" the man cried.

"I don't want to," Naruto said patiently, kindly. He thought he was barely pulling the man's arm, but then again, differences could only be truly appreciated within stark contrasts. "Please, just tell me where he went."

"He didn't tell us!" He was thankful the man didn't want to feign ignorance about his target's identity altogether; it seemed like they always wanted to do that.

"Where did you last see him?" Naruto asked, easing as much pressure from his hold as possible. If he wasn't careful, he could very well cause more damage than was necessary.

"In Taki!" exclaimed the man.

Naruto sighed and glanced at the far curve of the path. "You two came from the west. In fact, I was briefed you were all in Iwa." He ever so delicately, as if he were tapping his finger impatiently on a table, pulled on the arm. The man screamed.

"You're right! I'm sorry! We were with him in Iwa, but he headed north. That's all I know, please!"

The man was ready for his arm to be gone. He imagined a life without it and had almost accepted retiring away as a handicapped figure, perhaps one grateful for at least being able to live. But he instead felt relief. For a moment, he blinked and gazed at his freed arm. He swiveled his head to the northwest and barely glimpsed a murmur of orange in the trees and then there was only himself, his comrade, and the mild spring breeze. At the point when his friend had thrown a swift punch only moments ago, their pursuer had become a haze and the sound of splintered wood had crashed through the air, and that was all he was thinking about as a careless, bloated bee kissed a drooping flower next to him. _So effortlessly_ , he thought. He stared at the bee until it lazily buzzed away. He was still sitting there quietly in the middle of the beaten path when his companion awoke, dazed and temporarily unaware they had encountered anyone at all.

* * *

He really missed Hinata, and that was the strongest thought he had as he leaped through the trees, heading towards the border of the two lands. If he wanted to, he could have moved a lot faster, especially if he asked Kurama for help, but his thoughts were too heavy for all that. Kurotsuchi's negligence had never been on his mind even when Kakashi had all but told him it was the main reason why she had contacted him in the first place. He had even tried to explain the politics of the situation, how it wasn't really because Kurotsuchi couldn't apprehend the murderer herself but that they needed aid from a neutral party or something along those lines, yet Naruto didn't care about that bit and properly blocked it out until the Hokage got to the important details. The most important part was there was only one criminal here, so all other persons involved, unless they interfered, were insignificant and could be left alone. He was also pretty sure there was no such thing as neutrality when it came to shinobi but that's something none of them wanted to ponder.

Hinata understood, of course, even though it was obvious he was overqualified for the mission, but she was always understanding and that made it his job to feel guilty. They were still only half a year into their relationship, but he wanted to be with her _all_ the time. She was so kind, so thoughtful, and never once put her desires above his own. There was a point in his life he might not have seen the significance of that. He also understood that if he was willing to do the same, then it was the only way two people could truly call themselves stable. And he loved that! It was so good and had happened so naturally that he would believe every relationship was like this if he didn't know better considering it was his first (and hopefully last) one.

He wanted to have children with her. That thought seemed to dominate the others and his pace slowed as his ears started to heat up. There's no way _that_ process was going to happen soon, at least until they made some vows. Conservative viewpoints weren't exactly his natural stance in subjects pertaining to virtues, but he respected Hinata's and impulse was not supposed to always be acted upon.

Naruto didn't like how people thought he was so confident. He bore charisma skillfully, yes, but that was just his organic state. He was still human, and humans carried doubt. He was so certain everyone dealt with doubt, but he was silent about his own and never considered the dangerous notions when he was in action. It was miraculous how he could react with assurance and he didn't second-guess himself when the moment didn't call for it. But interludes like this, when the sun dipped behind the world and he flew through the land, were the primary battleground for his anguish. Was he worthy of anything he had been given? He kept feeling the pull to hide away and imagine he wasn't special, that his existence hadn't changed abruptly after the war. People loved him everywhere he went now, and he loved them. It was so beautiful and good that often he felt as if a lie had to be told, just to confirm that evil was still somewhere and ready to remind him his doubt was right: he shouldn't have this.

 _But Hinata didn't feel that way_ , he recalled dutifully. She thought he deserved all her world, and she had illustrated that to him a week ago. He had been in her apartment, helping her clean because she had trouble reaching the top of her cupboards. A little later on he had deduced she probably could have found a way to clean them herself (they were trained beyond most physical understanding of course) but he loved being helpful to her. She had been almost aloof that late afternoon, as if she were thinking of some other life, and he had been hard-pressed to start a conversation. He had almost been done with the cupboards by the time her quiet voice rang sweetly through her little living room.

"Thank you for helping me, Naruto."

He had lowered his dusty cloth and turned to her, mesmerized. "Absolutely, Hinata," he had replied, "whatever you need."

Somehow, he knew those words didn't feel right. It was too anxious, as if it were only burdened underneath its own cumbersome quality. Despite this hesitancy, he thought she was as sleek as gossamer webbing in the pinkish hue of the lingering day and her own polished eyes seemed to compliment those enlightened colors in the air—her gaze as electrifying as it was calming. All of a sudden, he was swept up in it all, fully captivated by the moment and it was one that could be only truly appreciated within recollection, and even then only done greedily, almost with envy for the past self.

"I…" She had appeared as if she were going to stammer off, perhaps give up on the magic in the room, but he visibly saw her muster the courage. "I love you." It was the first time she had said it. He hadn't even felt the swift obligation to say it back; he simply had raced to her and kissed her.

She had said it all then. There was no uncertainty with their feelings between them, and he just couldn't comprehend why he was given that. How were people not talking about this? This sensation? Was it a secret that they didn't want to mention that someone could be so happy? He didn't know for sure, but he wished it wasn't so concealed in the world.

He reached a clearing in the trees—a humble glade with wild, healthy vegetation sprouting bravely around it—and stopped. He exhaled slowly and felt the energy around him. They weren't far now, he observed tenderly as the world drifted infinitely onwards. Within that swirling mist of natural power, his mind gently focused on the face Hinata had made when she had confessed, so full of youth and beauty. He could hear her simple, honest voice in the whine of the forest. Doubt could probably never disappear, at least not permanently, but it was gone for now. He loved her and there was no room for anything else.

* * *

Dusk had colored the western canyons of the border in muted reddish shades where the dried energy of the environment could simply lift up a quiet melody in the stripped earth. The rocky walls, having been beaten and eroded, provocatively displayed their mineral-enriched souls to the sun and drank its light voraciously. Striped sandstone curved outwards near the base of the trenches, its salt-crusted surface smoothed over from an ancient river long forgotten by even the pebbles. Heat had risen by this dwindling edge in the day, weighing down the air deep within the canyon like a scorched wedge was being driven into this crack in the world.

Satou looked at this sight, his face neutral. Akio, farther along the bottom of the canyon, spat and cursed something inaudible.

"Would you shut up!" Satou yelled.

Akio looked back at him, surprised with even a hint of contempt. Satou didn't mind the latter but the evident shock seemed to make him angrier. It made him feel like he wasn't even supposed to be there, but that might be because he _shouldn't_ have been. He hadn't meant to kill the girl. He was just trying to rob the merchant, the fucking coward had shielded himself with her, and Satou had reacted almost involuntarily. But it didn't matter, he realized coolly. They would be after him no matter what. They always were.

From behind him, he heard Kaito and Kensho mumble something between themselves. He knew it was about himself, but he decided to ignore it. A nervous leader was apt to make mistakes, and he couldn't afford such a thing when matters were slowly starting to unravel outside of his control. He was a man who preferred to hold tightly onto his dealings, as if they were expected to be undone by an opposing greater force, which was something he had grown to plan around even when complacency was at its strongest.

"We'll wait here for Jurota and Takuma," he announced aggressively.

The other three nodded slowly, obviously still fazed by his abrupt outburst. Satou exhaled loudly. "Look, I'm not on edge, all right? I just don't like the fact we're on the run."

"I still think we could have taken them, Satou," said Kaito.

"Unlikely."

Kaito's skills as an Earth-user were indeed formidable, but there was a brashness to the young man that made Satou uneasy, like he was staring at a crumbling building. It wasn't necessarily his fault—the man had never really felt defeated or even contemplated a situation he couldn't react properly in. Satou couldn't expect any of them to understand or to even acknowledge anything outside of themselves.

Kensho fingered a kunai absentmindedly. "Those Iwa-nin are no joke, to be fair, especially since I hear their new Tsuchikage likes to even butt-in herself over minor crimes."

"Precisely," Satou agreed, "that place has been relatively peaceful for a while now. Way too many of their forces are available and are probably after us as we speak."

Akio cackled, a noise Satou had despised even the first time he had met him. "Oh, come on, those idiots hardly ever come up this far north. I should know—I'm from Iwa."

"I didn't know that," admitted Kensho. "Is that why your head is full of rocks?"

Akio, a rather insecure man, grit his teeth. "You have no idea how many times I've heard that joke."

"Because it's true?"

"Shut the fuck up, you two," demanded Satou. "Make a perimeter. I want one of you up on that cliff there. The other two can take up positions on either end of the ravine. And no more unnecessary talking. Until Jurota and Takuma come back, no one is to lower their guards, is that clear?"

They all agreed, rather abashedly, and did as they were told.

Satou (like most individuals in his line of chaotic work) didn't have much of a childhood. He remembered a nice memory of his mother slapping his drunk father once that made him happy to recollect, but for the most part he grew up in the dreary slums of Kiri with its concealed muggy outliers that were just as present as any interior characteristics. His own shinobi training had never been something as melodramatic as a child fighting for their lives, or at least it hadn't felt that way, but it had kept its own placement within his consciousness over the years. Still, he thought he had pulled out of it all quite nicely as the kind of man that stood in between a sliver of himself and the rest of the broader teachings of adult life. He hadn't necessarily shrugged off those inclinations, the ones that diligently beat themselves into humans over and over again, no, he preferred to adhere to them in a far more liberal interpretation of these lessons.

And he had been careful until this murder. This could potentially ruin everything, and he had to lay low for some time. Maybe head north into Kusa or something; it would have to be secluded or at least far away from prying eyes. Yes, he would disappear and sort himself and his crew out. He could even cut off some of them: Kensho was becoming more and more intolerable as of late.

Satou was dwelling more on this thought when he heard rocks shuffle from up above. He had watched Akio jump up there a minute ago, but he felt a jolt of unease, a static fizz drilling into his senses. He had learned over the years to trust those senses because they had saved his life on a number of occasions. He quickly moved to the opposite side of the canyon and scrutinized the cliffs above. Rather than give his position away, he motioned to Kaito, who had been eyeing him quizzically, to call out.

"Oi, Akio?" called Kaito, an expression of amusement on his face. Satou despised that look, but he let it pass.

There was no answer from above. Satou tensed his muscles; he knew what was coming. He could feel it: an intense amount of pressure was emanating from that cliff. It reminded him of the giant generators in his village that powered multiple buildings, the kind that seemed bigger than his own home at the time. That strong hum of indistinguishable power was much like this, but this was worse; this was _rawer_. It felt as if a large, unfiltered energy was all in the air, wishing desperately to crush him and take away everything he possessed both physically and mentally. Satou motioned for Kaito to call again while he concealed most of his body behind a large boulder.

Kaito, his amusement gone and replaced with something akin to mild annoyance yelled once again. No answer. With this, Kaito grimaced in anger and screamed in Kensho's direction.

"Can you check on that id—" his call was cut as a swift figure suddenly clipped into focus from behind him and struck. To Satou's dismay, he actually saw Kaito _fly_ several feet in the air before his indisposed body dropped to the earth.

Kensho saw this as well and began to run towards the figure, an extended arm with a kunai in each hand aimed in his direction. The figure, mostly hidden within the canyon's shadows, launched a projectile at Kensho. He dodged it easily and grinned mischievously.

"That was so fucking slow!" jeered Kensho.

Suddenly, his face changed, and he swerved to the left. His reaction had proved ideal as a shadow seemed to explode from the sky in the spot where he had just been, releasing a burst of tanned debris and dust. Kensho didn't hesitate and threw a kunai into the dust cloud, only to see two identical men emerge with raised fists. Kensho held up his other kunai, meaning to have at least one of them be pierced as they approached him, but their stances quickly changed and both attacks were thrown into his lower body: one in the upper thigh and the other right above his navel. A sickening crunch and heaving noise from Kensho escaped his lips as he was propelled backwards into the canyon wall from the impact.

Satou gaped in horror at the scene. Both men were the same person, obviously clones, and they had the most peculiar eyes. He wasn't positive from the distance between them, but he could have sworn they looked like toad eyes. But were they clones of the same figure who had beaten Kaito? Was there more of them? Either way, Satou was definitely outmatched and began to weave a flurry of signs. He would use Henge and escape up the wall as soon as he was given a chance.

Luckily, he was presented an opportunity. Kaito was awake and was laughing with blood trickling from his nose. He shoved both of his hands on the ground and the two clones were immediately caught within two slabs of earth and just when it looked like they were going to be overwhelmed by the jutsu, they both reached out their arms and physically stopped the walls from coming together. Satou couldn't believe his eyes. They were actually forcing them _back._ He looked at Kaito whose own expression of amazement exceeded his own.

"What the fuck?" said Kaito as the strength in his arms gave out and he released the jutsu. He turned to Satou and yelled for him to run.

Satou, furious at his underling's foolhardiness for giving his position away, began to jump up the cliff when a flash next to him stopped him. This time, Satou could make out every detail: they _were_ toad eyes and they seemed to stand out from a strong face cropped with bright, blonde hair. Satou gasped and put one hand on the sandstone behind him.

The strange blond man spoke simply, his voice calm, almost warming. Satou could actually _feel_ his power, as if it were a tangible, physical force standing right in front of him and it terrified him to his bones.

"Would you please come with me?" he asked politely. "I don't wanna hurt you."

Satou felt almost like he wanted to oblige, almost as if there was a promising note of peace in the proposition, but then he felt only rage. Was this guy really so full of himself that he could just politely ask criminals to come with him? How the fuck could someone like this exist? There was no way, absolutely no way this man was real. He flowed chakra suddenly into the sandstone and a rectangular column of rock jutted from the cliff where the man stood but a few feet from. Satou should have seen the man be temporarily paralyzed by the attack, at least long enough for him to get away, but in the split second it took for the pillar to hit him, he vanished.

Satou blinked and then felt a jab of pain at the side of his head. The man was standing right next to him, his fist just inches away from his skull. Another clone? No, he thought suddenly. This was really him. He could tell because this was more than just a giant generator in his village; this was all of it, all the energy of the universe placed into one man and Satou dropped to his feet, feeling as if the world was all liquid and he was just now realizing it. All at once, before Satou felt a heavy darkness encroach upon him, he recognized who the man was. He was that hero from the war everyone had talked about years ago. He had seen him once before at a celebration in Konoha when his crew had moved through it. _Oh man_ , Satou thought as he left the conscious world, _how the fuck was there ever a chance with a guy like him?_

* * *

The felt sky, its seams ripped apart by cosmic claws and scattered, insouciant holes in the night, weighed firmly upon him as he carefully placed the criminal against a boulder. Naruto noted he was still out cold and checked to make sure the bondings around his wrists were still fastened. He looked off into the southern distance—Iwa not far away. They would probably reach it mid-morning. Again, he knew he could be there in a minute or two with his target if he really wanted to, but he knew he just couldn't do it. He wanted to get back to Hinata and see her, hold her, but his musings still hadn't subsided; in fact, he was sure they had strengthened since earlier that day. They were like a barrier to his desires that would not allow him to go beyond until he was satisfied. But would he ever be? How could he when these pressing questions kept battering around in his head. He didn't think he was this introspective to begin with, but these feelings for Hinata were like a net being cast out constantly with no hesitation and every time the line came in, there was nothing.

Naruto sat down on an adjacent boulder, peering out into the dark expanse around him. He didn't even want to classify this as resting considering how much mental energy he felt he was using. Hinata deserved the very best, that was his bottom line. But he wasn't willing to admit himself as being that for her. Wasn't that an arrogant thing to believe in? Was everyone in a relationship so fixated on those selfish implications? He didn't think so, but he still felt like he couldn't reach a conclusion if he was unable to pinpoint where exactly the issue arose. He thought back to all the times he wasn't even aware of her feelings towards him. She had outright confessed to him when Nagato had attacked the village and she had come to his aid, but he still had practically ignored that declaration until years afterwards. She didn't hold that against him, naturally, but there was no way that had been fair. She had risked her life for him, had almost been killed, and he had just brushed it all aside. In many ways, he worried he was only in a relationship _because_ of that guilt, but he had quickly deemed that as absurd; the guilt was simply a by-product of his feelings for her.

He stayed with these thoughts for some time, a moonless sky endlessly spinning above him, until he heard the bound man behind him stir.

There was a long silence between them even after he was awake before he spoke: "I'm surprised we're not already there."

Naruto flinched slightly—it was too close to the personal edge of his predicament for him not to. "It's a nice night," he said simply as he turned to him. When Naruto saw him for the first time in the canyon, he could easily discern the burning rage in the man's eyes, but now in the dark, he could just barely make out his visage at all but what he did see surprised him: he looked defeated.

"Yes, it is," admitted Satou. "I think it might be my last."

Naruto shook his head. "They won't kill you. Kurotsuchi can be strict but she'll make sure you're treated fairly."

"There are many ways a man can die." He looked up drearily. "In many ways, I don't know if I've even been living." Naruto didn't say anything to this. He wasn't sure if he had a right to. "It was an accident, you know."

"That's what they briefed me on, yeah. I don't take it personally, but it's better if you don't run from your problems."

"Doesn't everybody do that?"

Almost as if it were a reflex, Naruto felt his neck snap back and he blinked in wonder. Was that what he was doing? No, that was too simple of an answer. "People don't avoid everything," he stated matter-of-factly, only half-believing it.

Satou sighed. "Not everything, but we all do it. It's such a habit for most of us, we barely even notice it."

"Is that why you were so angry earlier?" Naruto asked. He could tell it wasn't just because he had been caught; it had been far more developed than that.

"Probably. I tend to do that whenever I realize I've overstepped myself. Lots of thieves deal with that, you know, but few of them will ever admit it, so they get angry. Better to be that then to accept how worthless you are."

Naruto squinted his eyes in the dark, trying to see what kind of face he was making. "You're not just a thief anymore."

He watched as Satou's head seemed to hang down, as if he were waiting for a blade to come and swipe it off. "I suppose I'm not. Would you believe me if I admitted I feel ashamed?"

Naruto felt a slight suspicion from him, but this man didn't seem like the conniving type. Even if he was manipulating him, he wasn't about to cut him loose. In some odd, disturbed way, Naruto didn't believe he even wanted to run away anymore. "I would," he said.

"I wonder if I can change anything from now on," Satou mused quietly. "I don't think there's much hope for me."

Irony had a funny way of presenting itself sometimes and this was not lost on Naruto, but he wasn't even thinking about that aspect as much as he was feeling his restlessness begin to dissipate. "I think there's always some hope or at least the chance to believe there is." And as he said it, his own answer rose gently to the top of his submerged mind. If he was willing to accept that humans were more than just their past actions, then maybe he could look forward to his future ones. It was a start, at least—something he could transcend.

"So why'd they send the war hero after me?" asked Satou softly. Naruto detected a hint of amusement in his voice, as if the whole matter was a bad joke. He supposed it probably was in a way. "Bit of overkill, isn't it?"

"I don't really know. I think people expect a lot out of me, so they want me to continue doing things." Naruto wasn't sure if he should say anymore, but there was such a sadness to the man, such an awful awakening of cold truth in him, that he felt compelled to at least be honest with him. "There was a time when I looked forward to any mission I got. I loved the idea of adventure and being able to prove myself, but now I don't have to prove anything anymore, so it has all kind of lost its appeal."

He heard Satou grunt at that. "I'm not sure I'm that much older than you, but I think life lost its appeal a long time ago. Maybe it was never really there to begin with."

Naruto was tempted by that, but it still didn't seem to fit. Sure, he felt pretty unsteady as of late, but this viewpoint was something else entirely. He felt his own assurances come surging upwards, ready to be released. "As long as you're alive, then I think life will always have an appeal—or at least meaning within it, something to look for or something to look forward to. I can't believe this world holds nothing for people who try desperately to search for something in it. Even if we can't, hopefully we can give something to those ahead of us who can. As long as you're alive, there's hope."

Naruto heard Satou chuckle mirthlessly. "I already told you," his voice sounding gravelly, like he was finally finished with talking altogether, "a man can die in many ways." And then he said, almost as a whisper: "I died a long time ago."

There was no wind that night, but Naruto thought he picked up a whistle, a sort of sad strident cry in the darkness. It seemed to die off into the cracked rocks before he could determine where it came from. After that, there was just silence in the open, ravine-laden land, no skittering creatures nor virtuous birds with mournful songs. But the cosmos above were brilliantly burning as they always were, and they had no reason to abate or decide another course of action; they were satisfied with their obdurate selves. And Naruto thought they were beautiful. They had no need for onlookers or praise for their existence, not just because of their vast distance or their practically tireless power, but perhaps because of their relentless understanding of their purposes in the universe. They couldn't be persuaded to be anything they were not or doubtful of their misgivings because to be in constant motion meant there was no time to debate otherwise. For them, there was no need to believe in anything else.

The two men didn't say anything else that night—neither of them wanted to.

* * *

Naruto stood in front of the door, almost motionless, his anxiety growing with every second. She was expecting him by now and he had the most feverish thought that she was standing right behind the door, waiting for him to make the first move. That thought stayed in his mind so long, he could almost _see_ her through it. But he couldn't and she wasn't there. The only thing stopping him from seeing her now, something he desperately wanted and yet feared at the same time, was the simple decision of opening it.

Kurotsuchi had been thankful when he handed over Satou to her, but his attention had been on the unhappy smile of the murderer instead. He knew it wasn't because he was about to become imprisoned, not at all, Naruto knew it was because there was no way he would be able to come back. Even if one day, he was released, he wouldn't be the same way again—he would just be another walking corpse in the land who only thought of past mistakes in blurred dreams.

Kakashi had been thankful, too. He had mentioned something about the more missions he carried out like this, the more his prospects of becoming Hokage (as if it weren't already obvious to everyone in the village) would be finalized. Naruto didn't really hear him though; all he could see was Satou's defeated smile. The rage he had seen in him before, the rage that his fellow accomplices had seen in him for almost as long as they had known him, was just an illusion, a type of bloated proportion as if he was merely a deflated imitation all along. Naruto couldn't pretend like that. He didn't want to _be_ like that, the kind of person who was unable to escape the pitiful, thorned prison of their past, unaware, or maybe incapable of realizing they had built it themselves.

And now he was presented with another decision, maybe the most important. Although, he suddenly surmised with firm assurance, maybe it wasn't any different from any other choice. Maybe that was the whole point: every choice was important and completely its own. It was too easy to assume all decisions collided into each other like tumbling boulders in a rockslide. Yes, perhaps, they were all capable of that, but they didn't have to be. They were as unique and significant as the people who made them, and every single one could change an infinite set of factors. Maybe that was the truth of it.

Naruto wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, but it was too long. His doubts would probably never disappear but neither would the potential of his future with Hinata. So, he wouldn't try to ignore them any longer. He would take a separate, bold step like he had always done before. He almost wanted to laugh with that revelation; he really had been taking those steps before. He helped change the world because he wasn't one to second-guess himself. He wasn't one to let his insecurities weigh him down. He had almost forgotten that, had almost become too jaded by all of it. He didn't know where this apprehension had started, but then again, he wasn't sure where his feelings for Hinata had started either. They were both valid and he would approach both earnestly. He wouldn't submit to it all, not like Satou had.

With a flash of certainty in his mind, Naruto knocked on the door. When he heard the door open a second later, he almost believed she really had been standing there waiting for him. In a sense, she always had been.

Her smile was wide and magnificent. All at once, he could think of nothing else. "Welcome back," she greeted happily.

Naruto brought his hands out and held hers. For a moment, the whine of the forest had come back, and they were in it, blissfully surrounded by its graceful boughs. "I really missed you, Hinata."

She said she had missed him as well and they retreated into her little apartment. As he stepped boldly inside, he planned to tell her about what happened, all of his thoughts and the issues he had kept fighting with. He would tell her how scared he was sometimes and how he disliked it when people assumed he was incapable of hesitating and how he just wanted to be able to love her. And she would understand everything, and he knew it.

**Author's Note:**

> I wish I had started writing more as soon as I had the free time, but I don't think my heart was in it just yet. I think it is now, though, and I hope you're doing well in all this mess. I hope you enjoyed this little jumble of words. Let me know your thoughts about it when you can.
> 
> I'd also like to dedicate this story to my friend, Helios_OW. They have been very kind and supportive, and I would not have written this if it wasn't for them. Inspiration is such a lovely force and I think it comes about in its strongest form when a person genuinely loves a creation; I think that's why it's so contagious. They have helped me tremendously, and I'd like to extend my gratitude to them. Thank you!


End file.
